M-Braves manager Phillip Wellman can't come up with a good comparison or even a tidy description of Jones' left-handed stroke.

"It's just a swing that, when you see it, you say, 'That's beautiful,'" Wellman said. "There's something very aesthetic about it. It's pretty. What makes a work of art pretty? I don't know. You just know it when you see it."

Suffice it to say that when Jones swings the bat, magic happens.

The 23-year-old M-Braves left fielder entered Saturday's game against Tennessee batting .298, with 8 home runs and 30 RBIs. Listed at 6 feet 2, 195 pounds, Jones is a good outfielder with a strong arm, and he runs well.

Baseball America rated Jones the No. 4 prospect in Atlanta's minor league system entering this season and all indications are the former 24th-round pick is on a fast track to Turner Field.

"He's close," Wellman said. "It's a matter of time and opportunity, really. I don't think there's any doubt that he can go play in the big leagues, not in my mind."

For all his other skills, it's that sweet swing that will open the door for Jones' advancement.

"With a hitter like Brandon, our job in player development is not to mess him up," Wellman said.

'Cause here's the thing: No one taught Jones how to swing a bat in the first place.

"I used to go out in the front yard and hit rocks with a stick," said the soft-spoken, unassuming Jones, who grew up in Wewahitchka, Fla., a town of about 1,700 near Panama City.

Jones, who throws right-handed, remembers watching David Justice and Ken Griffey Jr. on TV and emulating their left-handed strokes.

Why left-handed? Jones just shrugs: "I don't know."

Baseball wasn't his passion, wasn't something he devoted a lot of time to as a kid. He loved football and basketball.

"I played baseball just to get out of the house," Jones said.

But, boy, could he play.

"He always had that swing," said Wewahitchka High coach Justin Smith, who was the junior varsity coach when Jones played at Wewa.

Smith, who played pro ball in the Cincinnati Reds organization, never got to coach Jones; he played varsity ball from seventh grade on.

"I threw a lot of BP to Brandon," Smith said. "Swinging the bat seemed so effortless for him. He was so soft and smooth through the ball - and then the ball would travel so far. It was amazing.

"Nobody I played with in pro ball compared with him."

Stubbs, a pretty good left-handed hitter during a 10-year big league career, said the key to Jones' swing is its simplicity.

"He doesn't require a lot of work," Stubbs said. "He gets ready to hit and then he swings. That's all he does. He doesn't have a lot of extra movement. It's fun to watch him hit.

"He has very strong hands. That allows him to flick some balls out there that other guys can't hit. And the strong hands, that's why the ball jumps off his bat like it does."

Jones' approach at the plate is simple, as well. He puts a rubber band over the sweat band he wears on each wrist - Wellman keeps a bag of spare rubber bands in his office - then steps up to the plate and rips a line drive.

"I try not to think too much. I just get a pitch I like, put a good swing on it and try to hit it hard," Jones said, offering an explanation that sounds a lot like how the great Stan Musial described his approach.

On the rare occasion that Jones' swing gets out of sync, it's easy to fix.

"It's usually that I'm trying to do too much, not being patient enough," Jones said.

"He won't have many long slumps, like an 0-for-20, he just won't have many of those," Stubbs said.

And the more hits Jones' sweet swing produces, the closer he gets to Atlanta.

"That's what we're trying to do," Stubbs said. "Hopefully, he gets so hot that they'll have to take him."